Sanité Bélair: The Tigress of Haiti
Sanité Bélair (born Suzanne Bélair), was a Haitian freedom fighter and revolutionary. Sanité, whom Dessalines described as “a tigress,” is formally recognized by the Haitian Government as a National Her...
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper: The Mother of African American journalism
Frances E.W. Harper was a leading African-American poet and writer. She was also an ardent activist in the abolitionist and women's rights movements. Harper had a long and prolific career, publishing her first ...
Ruby Bridges: The six year old heroine
Ruby Bridges was the first African-American child to attend an all-whyte public elementary school in the American South. Bridges was six years old and had to be escorted to class by her mother and U.S. marshals...
Mary Ellen Pleasant : The Mother of California’s early civil rights movement
Mary Ellen Pleasant was a 19th-century African American entrepreneur who used her fortune to further the abolitionist movement. She worked on the Underground Railroad across many states and then helped bring it...
Amelia Boynton Robinson: The Queen of Selma
“My idea, my belief, my intention is for the United States of America to be known as a UNITED States,”
Amelia Platts Boynton Robinson is an African American civil rights activist, who is perhaps best kno...
Rita Marley: Queen of Reggae
Perhaps best known as the widow of reggae legend Bob Marley and often called the "Queen of Reggae," Rita Marley has spent time and energy as the guardian of her late husband's estate and musical legacy, and, mo...
Ida B Wells Barnett: A Crusader for Justice
"One had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or a rat in a trap.”
Ida B. Wells (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931), was a crusading journalist and activist who led an anti-lynching...
Assata Shakur: Political activist, author and fugitive
“My name is Assata ("she who struggles") Olugbala ( "for the people" ) Shakur ("the thankful one"), and I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I was left with no other choice ...
Vivian Malone: Civil rights hero who defied racial segregation
Vivian Juanita Malone Jones (July 15, 1942 – October 13, 2005) was one of the first two African American students to enroll at the University of Alabama in 1963 and the university's first African American gra...
Mary Jane McLeod Bethune: The First Lady of The Struggle
Mary Jane McLeod Bethune was an American educator best known for starting a private school for African-American students in Daytona Beach, Florida. She attracted donations of time and money, and developed the a...